Towns

Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)

With the deadline now past to apply for commercial casino licenses in Massachusetts, the chairman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) said the tribe will not pursue a class three license from the state but will continue to press for a high-stakes bingo hall in Aquinnah.

The attorney for the Wampanoag Tribe of Mashpee told a federal judge in Boston Monday that the tribe is in active negotiations with Gov. Deval Patrick over a compact that will allow it to open a casino in Taunton by 2014.
Howard M. Cooper said the Mashpee Wampanoags hoped to complete negotiations with state in less than 60 days and submit the proposed agreement to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs for needed ratification.

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the first federally recognized American Indian tribe in the commonwealth, is going through a period of significant change as it pursues plans to build a casino in an uncertain economic and regulatory climate.

The hope of building a casino in southeastern Massachusetts has been thwarted by state officials, and a previously announced plan to convert the tribal community center to a bingo hall appears to be stalled.

No application has been filed with the town and the still-unfinished building has no certificate of occupancy permit.

The Aquinnah/Gay Head Community Association this week joined the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) in trying to insert the question of the Vineyard tribe’s right to build a casino in Massachusetts into a broader federal lawsuit.

As the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) presses ahead on various fronts to win the right to build a casino in Massachusetts, a federal judge in Boston has set next Wednesday as the date for briefs to be filed in a complicated case that now involves the state and its gaming commission, a commercial casino developer and the Vineyard tribe.

Cranberry Day observances brought the youngest and oldest members of
the Wampanoag Tribe together on Tuesday. The weather couldn't have
been better as the tribal nation celebrated its most popular holiday.

A special superior court sitting is now set for next month in
Edgartown on a case that will ultimately decide whether the Wampanoag
Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has the power to police itself when it
comes to local zoning rules. The case will also decide the much larger
issue of whether the tribe cannot be sued because of sovereign immunity.

The case has attracted little attention, despite the fact that the
outcome could have far-reaching implications for every town on the
Vineyard.

In the first regulatory review under its own maiden government since
the superior court decision on sovereign immunity last year, the
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) this week permitted itself to
build a 6,500-square-foot community center off Black Brook Road in
Aquinnah.

After a brief public hearing and a whirlwind deliberation session, the Martha's Vineyard Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a community center for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on Black Brook Road.

The community center is in fact already partially built. The tribe first broke ground on the center in the spring of 2004; the building remains half-finished.